Sibling success: Patin brothers preparing to wrestle at CIF

Wrestling is synonymous with brotherhood — but not typically at the level Aaron and Jaelin Patin are accustomed to. The Burroughs wrestling team's siblings each qualified for the CIF-SS Eastern Division championships, and will take to the mat this weekend with a chance to advance to Masters.

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By Anthony GentileSPORTS EDITORagentile@ridgecrestca.com

Ridgecrest Daily Independent - Ridgecrest, CA

By Anthony GentileSPORTS EDITORagentile@ridgecrestca.com

Posted Feb. 19, 2014 at 3:10 PM

By Anthony GentileSPORTS EDITORagentile@ridgecrestca.com

Posted Feb. 19, 2014 at 3:10 PM

Wrestling is synonymous with brotherhood — but not typically at the level Aaron and Jaelin Patin are accustomed to. The Burroughs wrestling team's siblings each qualified for the CIF-SS Eastern Division championships, and will take to the mat this weekend with a chance to advance to Masters.

"We always try to compete — I try to be better than him and he tries to be better than me," Aaron Patin said. "Hopefully we can go to the next level."

Aaron, a senior, and Jaelin, a junior, have been wrestling for the Burros since the beginning of their high school careers. They made it a goal to qualify for CIF together before the season started, after both missing out last year — Aaron sat out the season with a broken arm and Jaelin didn't make it past league finals.

"It's a testament to them being good drilling partners and just trying to make themselves better every day," Burros head coach Michael Lazaro said. "They're definitely better wrestlers from the beginning of the year until now — and a lot of that is because they've pushed each other and competed with each other."

In order to qualify for CIF, Aaron and Jaelin each had to finish in the top three of their respective weight classes at the Desert Sky League finals earlier this month. That task was made more difficult after both brothers chose to drop a weight class, a decision that left each seeded at the bottom of the league headed into the tournament.

"When you're seeded last, you always get the hardest kid at the tournament first — the best kids there," Aaron said. "It starts off hard, and if you do well it gets easier — you eliminate the hardest kid first."

Both siblings wrestled to third-place finishes to qualify — Aaron at 138 pounds and Jaelin at 126 pounds. Jaelin won his third-place match 8-3 over Silverado's David Avila to avenge a one-point defeat against the Hawks' wrestler earlier in the tournament.

"We started from the bottom and came up," Jaelin Patin said.

Neither brother would have been able to keep his season going without the other's help. At practices Aaron and Jaelin are training partners, a partnership that renews their sibling rivalry on a daily basis.

"It's pretty competitive — I go my hardest when I'm partnered with him because I know I can't let him get anything," Aaron said. "It's kind of fun."

Because of his experience and slight weight advantage, big brother Aaron typically gets the better of younger brother Jaelin when the two square off on the mat. When Jaelin comes out on top, he said he appreciates the bragging rights that accompany the triumph.

"It's tough wrestling against him — he's stronger and more explosive," Jaelin said. "If he does something, you can't really stop it — he just keeps going until he gets what he wants."

Page 2 of 2 - Though their competitiveness doesn't typically extend past a drill in practice, it does carry over outside of The Loft. Both brothers still wrestle one another at home as they did when they were younger — Aaron laughed as he said that the main difference now is that the unsanctioned matches at their grandparents house are safer.

"Now that we know what we're doing, we know who wins — it gets more intense," Aaron said. "If we're fighting over something, we'll end up wrestling for it."

Both brothers have mild-mannered personalities and share a number of similarities — but on the mat they wrestle with contrasting styles­­­. Aaron is an explosive wrestler that uses his speed, agility and double-leg takedowns against opponents while Jaelin thrives on stamina, elusiveness and restraining opponents.

"Aaron is really explosive and scores a lot of points from the neutral position, and Jaelin is more of a scrambler that gets in crazy positions and will wear on you," Lazaro said. "Their styles clash. Jaelin lets the match come to him and will score off of other people's actions — he's more of a counterwrestler — and Aaron is more of an offensive wrestler."

The Patin brothers make up one-third of the Burros wrestling contingent that qualified for CIF — including their other main training partner, senior Anthony Khoeun (132 pounds). Seniors Ethan Haddock (195 pounds), Malik Mallett (heavyweight) and Antonie Herrera (170 pounds) will also represent Burroughs at CIF.

"The six guys that we're taking to CIF are some of the hardest working guys we have," Lazaro said.

The Burros have had three weeks to prepare for the CIF-SS Eastern Division meet, which will be held this weekend at Citrus Hill High in Perris. The six wrestlers — along with girls state qualifier Mary Marker — have ramped up their conditioning, running, weightlifting and work on technique while preparing for the next round of the postseason.

"As coaches, we're all feeling very good about where we're at from a conditioning and technique standpoint — the last three weeks have been really helpful for us," Lazaro said. "We've improved and I'm really excited to see what these guys can do — we're peaking at the right time."

A top-five finish at the Eastern Division meet will earn qualification to the CIF-SS Masters meet held Feb. 28 and March 1 in Ontario. For the Patin brothers, qualifying would mean another week of taking aim at each other on the mat.

"They're really good kids and they're working hard — it would be great to send both them to Masters," Lazaro said.